Coming Home
by Aiffe
Summary: [Requested: InuyashaKouga andor MirokuKouga] While waiting for Kagome, Inuyasha gets an unexpected (and unwanted, and disturbingly attractive) visitor of the wolfy persuasion. But as always, there’s more going on than meets the eye. [Complete]
1. Vigilant

Happy birthday to me! My birthday present to all of you! Yes, to give truly is better than to receive!

tl;dr AN goes snip. Short version: fic contains ghey.

* * *

"Where's Kagome?" Kouga asks, dust still swirling around him from his sprint.

Inuyasha surveys him from his perch on the well. "Home, not that it's any of your business."

"I would've noticed if she was in my den," Kouga says, smirking.

Inuyasha glares at him. Normally, he would be goaded into a fight, but now he is in no mood.

"Where is her home, anyway?" Kouga asks, his voice a bit softer than before, somewhat crushed that he doesn't even know his woman's village, and has to ask the hanyou.

Inuyasha doesn't see any harm in telling him. "Tokyo."

"Tokyo? Never heard of it," Kouga says, puzzled. Not that he had memorized the name of every human village, but still.

"It's the anagram-lover's Kyoto," Inuyasha says snarkily.

Kouga comes closer, leaning on the other side of the well absently. "Is it very far away?" Inuyasha thinks there's something innocent about the way Kouga says that, like a child asking how far away the clouds are.

"Farther than you could imagine," Inuyasha says bitterly.

"Too far to visit?" Kouga pries, enjoying their game.

"For you," Inuyasha says, with some satisfaction. "Not for me." With the shards in his legs, Kouga probably could use the well, Inuyasha reflects, however, he has no intention of telling him about it.

Kouga turns on him. "You don't own her!"

"I could say the same to you, wolf!" Inuyasha snaps. He'd felt too dejected to be fighting, before, but Kouga's brazen claims on Kagome are heating his blood.

"Don't hide her, you coward!" Kouga says, taking a stance, prepared for whatever his words might bring him. "Let her decide if she wants to see me or not! Tell me where she is, mutt!"

"Don't order me around, you don't own _me_, either," Inuyasha grits out, tossing his hair in annoyance.

"L-like I'd even want to!" Kouga spits furiously. "To think I thought I could have a polite conversation with you!" Seeing Inuyasha's claws creep to Tessaiga's hilt, he speeds off. He wasn't here for a fight, he just wanted to find Kagome.

"Coward!" Inuyasha yells after the fleeing wolf. He slumps down beside the well, feeling more wretched than before.

-

The next day, Inuyasha is baking in the sun, occasionally twitching in the direction of the well, but restraining himself. He'd promised. He doesn't want to look possessive or desperate. He tells himself he isn't like that stupid smelly wolf, doesn't need to hover over her every moment. Kagome will come back to him on her own, even though this isn't her home.

Mostly, he is conscious of the sun. He is convinced it is in league with Naraku. He smolders under his heavy haori, his brow burns, there is a slick wet line down his back, under his hair, and the pink insides of his ears are tanning orange. He could wait under a tree, nearby, but is determined in his vigil. Shippou had brought him breakfast and waited with him earlier in the morning, but left for more interesting things hours ago. The inside of the well looks nice and cool, he thinks, remembers with longing Kagome and her air conditioning, and her showers, and that machine that could make his clothes fresh and clean again.

But that's not his world, not his home. He has no right to burst in on her like that.

"Are you still here?" Kouga says, faintly bemused.

Inuyasha looks around at him, and tries to be annoyed. But it's too hot for that, so he says, "It's where we meet. Not that it's any of your business." Truthfully, Inuyasha feels like a dog chained to a post, told to wait for his master. How rarely masters consider things like that it might be hot, or how long their dogs must wait alone.

"Is it near Tokyo?"

"No, but it's on her way back from there."

"You're always coming back to this spot," Kouga mused. "It can't be because of that old miko, there are other mikos, and better ones at that. I know the taijiya didn't come from here, and there's no Buddhist temple, so it's probably not anything to do with the monk. Your home village, then?" Kouga asks, proud of his deduction. After all, Inuyasha is half-human, any of the villagers here could be his parent.

"It was Kikyou's home, never mine." Inuyasha is annoyed at himself for bringing Kikyou up, but he has wanted to talk for a long time, and it isn't like he could discuss her with anyone else, mostly because of Kagome.

"Kikyou is your mom?"

"No."

"You'd better not be two-timing on my Kagome," Kouga threatens.

"Don't talk about what you don't understand, mangy wolf. Then again, that would probably mean never speaking again, wouldn't it?"

Kouga smiles. "Hit a nerve, did I?"

Inuyasha sulks. "Just go away."

"How can you defend my woman for me, if you let yourself be affected so easily?"

"She. Is. Not. Yours," Inuyasha grits through clenched teeth.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about. You have no game face, all you do is react," Kouga says smoothly, pacing easily around Inuyasha.

"Like you're any better."

"I'm always better than you."

Inuyasha nearly laughs. "I still have blood under my claws from the last youkai who told me that. Being a full youkai does _not_ make you better than me."

"I'm not better than you because I'm pure-blooded, I'm better than you because I have sense in my head," Kouga says with satisfaction.

"Keh, hardly," Inuyasha scoffs, not bothering to think of a better comeback.

"Then why are you sitting in this broiling sun, when there's a nice shady tree not twenty feet that-a-ways? If this is really your meeting spot, you couldn't possibly miss her from just over there, even if you're nearsighted, you could smell her clearly."

"I stay put for the same reason you're always running away. You've got a home to go back to, and I haven't. This is where I wait for her," Inuyasha says wearily.

"Your choice, mutt," Kouga says as he leaves, still not understanding.

-

The next day it rains.

The cool water feels good on Inuyasha's sunburn, though his clothes are now a sopping, sticky mess. He tries to run his fingers through his hair to get the tangles out, but wet strands tangle around his fingers, and cling annoyingly. He gives up halfway through, leaving one side of his hair looking almost neat, and the other side ratty. Mostly he twitches water out of his ears, and blinks it off his eyelashes, letting it run into his mouth, salty from his skin, and watches the misty horizon, in a trance.

Shippou has not brought him his meals yet. He is hungry, in a wiry, hollow sort of way, but it does not trouble him much.

Inuyasha sits on the edge of the well, on the corner, to give him more support, with his feet tucked up under him. He hears the raindrops echoing in the well, making a muddy mess at the bottom. If it rains much harder, the well will flood, and Inuyasha will have to be very alert, prepared to save Kagome should she come through in that, lest she drown. He doesn't trust his nose in this weather, with all the scents being washed away, so he listens carefully, unable to see the bottom of the well with storm-clouds covering the sun.

To his surprise, he hears Kouga's approach. There is something unexpectedly loyal about showing up every day, even in this rain. He wants to say something before Kouga does, to show that he heard him coming, but can't think of anything clever, so he goes with, "Hello."

Kouga blinks, shock hitting his face like a pie in a bad comedy skit. He's not sure what surprises him more, that Inuyasha heard him coming, when he thought he was being so stealthy, or that he said something so civil. "Um, hello," he says back awkwardly. He sits next to his rival, and there is almost a companionable silence, both waiting for the same girl.

At last, Inuyasha can take it no more. "What do you want, Kouga."

Kouga is not sure if he should be insulted that Inuyasha used his name, in absence of any honorifics, which is rather personal. It seems an improvement on "mangy wolf," or the like, so he lets it slide. "What I always want," he says in response.

"She isn't yours," Inuyasha says wearily.

"Then you're wrong," Kouga says, bitterly.

"I'm not wrong, Kagome does not belong to you," Inuyasha says with conviction.

"Not about that," Kouga says, waving a hand dismissively though the pouring rain. "About what you said before. Because if I don't have Kagome, I don't have a place to go home to."

Inuyasha raises his eyebrows, mildly surprised, though he tells himself he doesn't care.

"If I don't return with a female, my pack won't let me back," Kouga confesses.

Something about this reminds Inuyasha of something. "I thought wolf youkai only did that if the wolf in question is caught in a homosexual relationship," he says, expecting Kouga to yell at him, righteously furious at being called a pervert.

But Kouga intertwines his fingers in his lap, and studies them, refusing to look Inuyasha in the eye. "Yeah... something like that."

Inuyasha looks at the ground, eyes wide, unsure what to do. An awkward silence passes between them.

"Aren't you going to jump up, and put some distance between us, and tell me not to touch you, or else, and all that?" Kouga says, grimacing.

"No," Inuyasha answers simply.

"You should. If anyone sees us together, they'll say that you're a faggot too. Once your pack finds out, it's not a secret anymore, everyone knows, do you understand?" Kouga spits out furiously. He'd thought he was special, immune, the spoiled prince of a happy clan, loved, and able to do as he pleased. He was wrong. Even though they betrayed him, he'd do anything to win back their favor.

"I don't care," Inuyasha says, sounding oddly old, "what other people think of me."

"You're lucky," Kouga says, almost enviously.

"You must be dumber than you look, to say that," Inuyasha says, spitting raindrops.

For the first time, Kouga actually thinks of Inuyasha as a person, and thinks what his life must have been. He is ashamed of himself as he does this, hanyous are to be despised, and shunned without mercy, not looked on with compassion. It was just one of those rules he accepted without question, since it didn't affect him. But actually being on the outside for once is making him re-examine his values.

"You shouldn't—" Inuyasha begins, but stops, looking at Kouga uncertainly. He thinks for a moment he saw Kouga cry, but that's stupid, it has to be the rain, he decides. "You shouldn't let them control how you live your life, or how you think of yourself. You should just find that... man, and do what you want," Inuyasha finishes awkwardly. It's very different from what he had originally intended to say.

"I can't," Kouga says. "Don't tell me how to live, what do you know about it?"

"Nothing," Inuyasha says flatly.

"So this isn't your village," Kouga says, eager to change to subject.

"That's right," Inuyasha says, also relieved for the change of topic.

"Where is your village?"

Inuyasha sighs. "I grew up a bit west of here," he says, gesturing vaguely, "it was a bigger village than this one. At least it seemed big when I was there. It might be smaller to me, now."

Kouga doesn't miss the hurt in his rival's eyes, and for once, doesn't triumph in it, not when it's so close to his own. "Your pack should have protected you."

"Pack, what pack?" Inuyasha snorts. "My father's dead. My mother died, too. My mother's family disowned her, and conveniently blamed me for it. My half-brother can hardly see anything past his own perfect nose, I'd say he hates me, but I'm not sure he even feels anything. Who cares, anyway, I don't need them, any more than they need me. Don't talk to me about family, look at all the good yours did you."

"They love me," Kouga says with conviction, "they just want me to come back with a woman. Then everything will be okay. I'll be cured, and things will go back to the way they were."

In the twilight after sunset, the clouds clear, and they watch the stars come out together in silence. Inuyasha wonders if Kagome can see the same stars, but then considers that the stars are probably nearer to him than she is.

-

The next day is the sort that humans like. Lukewarm, open, with a few big fluffy clouds drifting high and lazy on a gentle breeze. The air smells like pollen and woodsmoke, with a whiff of damp hanyou.

Kouga had watched his rival sleep part of the night before, if it could be called sleep. Inuyasha had spent the night clinging to the lip of the well, rather than sink in the cold mud, lightly dozing, his ears pivoting at every sound. Sometimes Kouga swore he had one eye half-open, but when he called his name, Inuyasha made no response, other than the slight pricking of his ears.

Now Kouga creeps towards the well, his feet sinking slightly in the soft ground, pushing up little puddles, dying his white foot-wrappings a murky greenish-brown. He can tell that Inuyasha's seen him, but both seem reluctant to say the first words.

He peers into the well, just to have something to look at, and catches Inuyasha tensing. He thinks it's because he's standing close to him, thinks that everything he said yesterday is finally sinking in. The openness between them formed in the dark companionship of the storm seems to have evaporated in daylight. It shouldn't hurt so much to be rejected by a sworn enemy, but it does.

At the bottom of the well, there is a pool of brackish water, sparkling merrily like a clean thing. Kouga turns away.

"She hasn't come yet, has she?" Kouga says, somewhat rhetorically.

"She won't go with you anyway, you should know that," Inuyasha says. "Why don't you ask Ayame or something, isn't she still fawning over you?"

Kouga makes a bitter little sound, halfway between a laugh and a snort. "She doesn't want me anymore. Not after everything my own wolves have been saying about me."

"There's loyalty for you."

"Inuyasha, there's such a thing as being too loyal," Kouga says seriously, catching the startled look in the hanyou's yellow eyes. He thinks it's cute for an instant, but pushes the thought away, angrily. "Does Kagome even know you do this for her?"

"Don't give lectures on things you have no comprehension of, you'll embarrass yourself," Inuyasha says defensively, riled by use of his name.

"It's a little late for that, I'm already shamed."

"I was born shamed, and I don't whine on and on about it," Inuyasha snaps. "I'm sick of hearing 'Oh, poor me, my pack's a bunch of turncoat scumbags, and I fancy the menfolk.' Just don't let them treat you that way, you're a grown man, you don't need anybody! I'm not your mommy, it's not my job to pat you on the head, and tell you you're a good boy. Do something about your problems!"

Kouga tenses, in mute frustration, as Inuyasha vents. It isn't fair, he thinks, I _am_ trying, that's why I'm looking for Kagome. Moreover, he is furious to hear his pack insulted that way, even after everything they've done. He clenches his fists, and something in him snaps. He kisses Inuyasha.

It is a messy kiss, completely unplanned on both sides, and neither really knowing what to make of it. Inuyasha allows it for an instant, then decides he doesn't like it, and pushes Kouga away.

"What the hell was that?" Inuyasha demands.

"I was doing what you said. Fixing my problems," Kouga says, short of breath but triumphant.

"What?" Inuyasha shouts. "How does that help anything? You don't just kiss people for no reason, that doesn't solve anything!"

"It shut you up for a moment. I couldn't think with all the noise you were making," Kouga says, grinning.

Inuyasha opens his mouth and closes it a few times, as if too many words tried to be said at once, and they'd gotten jammed.

"Ah, sweet silence," Kouga says cheerfully. Victories against Inuyasha are rare, and he intends to enjoy this while it lasts.

"Y-you _idiot_!" Inuyasha stammers. "You did it all wrong!"

"I what?" Kouga asks, pointing his hand at his chest like a surprised squirrel.

"Kissed! Everything! Here, let me show you how it's done," he says, grabbing Kouga's shoulders determinedly, and steeling himself, before kissing Kouga full on the lips. He kisses long and thoughtfully, prying open Kouga's yielding mouth, and caressing with his tongue.

He pulls back and swallows, flushed, and Kouga licks his lips.

"There," Inuyasha says, "I proved my point, you can't kiss worth beans, now never touch me again."

"Actually, I thought you were a bit too forceful," Kouga mutters.

"That's great, coming from the man who drooled all over my cheek a moment ago," Inuyasha says in annoyance.

"That wouldn't have happened if you had let me take a breath! Was that supposed to be a kiss or an assassination?" Kouga rants incredulously. "If the people you kiss have the habit of suffocating, maybe you should take the hint!"

"You—I—Don't—Stop being stupid, you mangy wolf! It was a good kiss!" Inuyasha struggles to say.

"You liked it then?" Kouga asks, changing tactics.

"Wha—No!" Inuyasha shouts, aghast. "Unfair!"

"Ha!" Kouga declares. "You _did_ enjoy it!"

"Sh-shut up!"

"You like me!" Kouga says, grinning wildly. "I've seduced you, and you want my hot nasty manlove!"

Inuyasha's eyes widen in shock. "You rat bastard!" he fairly shrieks. "Take that back! You're gross, and I think you have fleas, and... who wants _you_, anyway!"

"Well you do, appa—" Kouga begins, but luckily for his health, he is interrupted.

"Inuyasha, you big dolt, are you still waiting there?" a voice calls out. "You're going to get fleas that way!"

Inuyasha shoots Kouga an I-told-you-so look.

"Is that the monk?" Kouga hisses urgently. Inuyasha gives a curt nod. "Oh," Kouga says, "That's bad. That's very bad." He looks around for a quick place to hide, and happens to notice that they are in a small field, with no immediate cover, although they are sitting on one big honking well. "Sorry," he says brusquely to Inuyasha, before tackling him, and knocking them both into the well.

-

"Ugh," Inuyasha gulps, five hundred years later, "What smells like feet?"

Kouga scratches around his ponytail in an undignified sort of way. "My foot, I would assume." They are lying quite tangled together, having fallen in a jostled heap. It seems that the well only makes nice floating landings for pretty heroine types.

Inuyasha pushes at an unnamed-and-better-not-to-ask-Kouga-body-part, and grunts, "Oh, that's just peachy. Mind telling me what it's doing in my face?"

Kouga scrambles to his feet, and laughs when he sees his muddy footprint on Inuyasha's cheek. "I always knew I'd walk all over you, muttface, I just never thought it would be like this," he says, snickering uncontrollably.

Inuyasha makes an ugly face at Kouga, and rubs at the muddy spot, spreading around more than removing. Then the moment comes that Inuyasha would have been afraid of if he hadn't been distracted. Kouga looks _up_.

Suddenly he isn't snickering anymore, his eyebrows go up, and somewhat in, and he is scenting the air in little desperate whiffs, like a frightened rabbit. "Inuyasha, where _are_ we?"

Inuyasha freezes, unsure what to do. He'd tried to be good, honest, he'd kept vigil over the well for her, and tried to do everything right, but now he worries that Kagome might tell him to sit for this, and he'd be lapping at her hands, still not good enough.

Briefly, he considers trying to kill Kouga. It is not a pleasant thought when entertained seriously. The actual fighting would be difficult--much as he hated to admit it, the wolf could fight. He would almost certainly receive wounds himself, and maiming was not unthinkable. Not that this has ever stopped him before, but he realizes that as much trouble as Kouga's caused him, and as much as he wishes him gone, he doesn't want to kill him. He pushes the thought aside.

And, briefly, considers simply telling Kouga. Like, "Yes, Kagome is from the _future_, Tokyo is Edo's future, and the castles here are pillars of glass and steel, all in a row. She doesn't belong with us, we're just a game to her, hands-on study for her important tests in her important world." Even in his mind, the words choke him. He bites them back.

"I—I don't know what it is, Kouga. A spell laid by Naraku, probably. Hey, why don't we try falling down the well again, and see if it takes us back?" Inuyasha lies, shaking a little, nervously.

If Kouga catches the lie, he doesn't let on. He turns to Inuyasha, frowning. "Do you smell that?"

"I'm not sure," Inuyasha says noncommittally, knowing perfectly well what Kouga smells.

"Stupid hanyou senses, of course you don't," Kouga mutters.

This is too much for Inuyasha. "I think you killed my sense of smell with the stench on your feet!" he cuts back. "I'm amazed I'm _alive_ after that!"

"Just shut up already, you blithering idiot," Kouga lashes at Inuyasha. "Kagome's been here, I'm sure of it, her scent is just hanging all over in the air here. If this is Naraku's doing, that's even worse."

"I thought you didn't fancy her?" Inuyasha hedges hopefully.

"That doesn't mean I want Naraku to _kill_ her, what kind of person do you think I am!" Kouga says, offended. Inuyasha says nothing, so, surveying the situation, Kouga pushes upward, kicks against the inside of the well, gaining momentum, and leaps free. Inuyasha follows, trying to get close enough to Kouga to pull him back into the well, but Kouga seems angry with him, and besides, it's too late, now that Kouga knows, he can jump in any old time. Cursing, Inuyasha follows an awestruck Kouga out of the well house, and into the world.

The sound and stench of cars assaulting Inuyasha's senses reminds him that there are people here. People who might not be able to "handle" seeing a youkai. He remembers Kagome telling him something about dissection and men in white coats he has no desire to meet. The hair just makes him look like a punk, and his claws can be chalked up to bad hygiene, but something must be done about his ears. He musses his half-combed hair over his ears as best he can, but it slides off, obeying inconvenient things like the grain of the hair, and gravity.

"What are you _doing_?" Kouga asks him, squinting in confusion.

"Ah, listen, I may actually know something about this place," he says, wilts slightly, and continues, "and I hear there are fierce and unreasonable taijiya here, so we have to hide that we're not human, you know?"

While Kouga tries to make sense of that, Inuyasha feels guilty. His lies are just getting worse and worse, it's an insult to Kouga's intelligence to expect him to believe it.

"All right, fine," Kouga says, puffing his chest out. "But if any of them try to exterminate me, I get to kill them, no more playing nice."

"Fine, fine," Inuyasha mutters, taking back what he'd thought about Kouga's intelligence before. Can't insult what was never there, he thinks, which amuses him immensely. Kouga is probably wondering what he's smiling over, but he doesn't care.

But that still leaves him with the problem of his ears. He takes his haori off, and wraps it around his head in a makeshift turban. "How do I look?" he asks Kouga hopefully.

"Like a total imbecile," Kouga says, trying not to laugh.

"Lovely!" Inuyasha declares. "I have no idea why I just asked your opinion, I mean, who wears fur with leather? It's gouache."

Kouga pouts. "I was just trying to be manly, and wear all the helpless creatures I killed! You know, he-man, grr? Or maybe you _wouldn't_ know, I mean, considering you strut around in an entire outfit of _pink_."

"It's a soft red!" Inuyasha explains, outraged.

"Right, Pink Boy, keep telling yourself that," Kouga sniggers.

"I'll have you know that this is the famed Robe of the Fire Rat, it's not pink, it's _legendary_!"

"Mutt. It is a pink jumpsuit. Accept."

Out of the corner of his eye, Inuyasha sees a visitor to the shrine staring at them like they just crawled out of one of Kagome's "rocketships." Snarling in annoyance, he yanks Kouga's headband over his ears, thoroughly enjoying the resulting yelp.

"What the hell!?" Kouga demands.

"The disguise is complete!" Inuyasha declares triumphantly, adjusting his not-pink turban. "We're sure to pass for normal, now."

"Then let's go!" Kouga says enthusiastically, taking off at breakneck speed. Inuyasha reaches a hand out too late, and gets a handful of dust.

Oh, there's going to be some explaining to do, he thinks grimly.

* * *

(Conclusion, next.)


	2. Overcome

Inuyasha never thought he could lose a scent, particularly one as rank as Kouga's. But he never even knew this many people _existed_. It is evening rush hour, and everybody seems to be going somewhere, all with their individual scents, every one confused by the smells of soaps, lotions, detergents, and products Inuyasha couldn't even begin to place. At least twice Inuyasha stops dead at the scent of people who happen to use Kagome's shampoo, but gradually he is learning to phase it out.

As if the world decides it isn't being unhelpful enough, and has a quota to meet, it starts raining. Not a heavy rain, but a very mild drizzle that is nearly a mist, some raindrops seeming to be so light they hang suspended on the damp air, some drifting down in a slow arc. Some of the people produce ponchos, others umbrellas, others simply hurry. Inuyasha had been annoyed at not being able to sniff the ground with the crowd, but it probably wouldn't have helped anyway, not with every other scent there, and by now everything worth sniffing is swirling around in the rainwater. Inuyasha swears under his breath as he walks at first, then begins wandering aimlessly, realizing that he is somewhat lost. The city is beautiful and uninviting, electric lights behind glass in closed rooms, swarms of people either staring at him or trying not to stare, or just too busy to care, numerous as the raindrops.

Inuyasha gives up, more or less. He walks on the curb, because there seems to be more space there, and is splashed by cars repeatedly. He doesn't really care. He has the rough aim of getting back to the well, or maybe to Kagome's house, he'll decide once he's there, but he's not sure he's going in the right direction, and doesn't care much about that, either.

So when he finds Kouga, it is blind luck, though he will say it was his amazing nose, later. There is a wall on one end of the sidewalk, to make up for an inconvenient hill, and it's on the wall that Kouga sits. Even with his headband covering his ears, in his fur and armor he looks like something out of an ancient scroll, though to Inuyasha he's the only remotely normal thing in sight. Inuyasha nudges through the perpetually surprised-to-see-him crowd, and jumps up with Kouga. "Are you lost?" he asks, a little more smugly than intended.

Kouga stares forward, his eyes looking gray in the dreary light, drops of water clinging to every strand of hair, on his fur clothes as well, even on his eyelashes, making him look like fairies decorated him when he wasn't paying attention. "Tokyo, right?" he says slowly.

No going back now. "What tipped you off?" Inuyasha asks, tilting his head slightly, which proves to be a mistake, as his turban slides off. He grabs it quickly, and puts it on his head more precariously than before, hoping no one saw.

"I saw a lot of people wearing Kagome's kind of clothes," Kouga says. "I thought if I waited here, she might come by like the others."

Inuyasha closes his eyes in annoyance. "Look around, can't you see? This is her home. Why would she ever want to leave this place for you, to live in some smelly wolf cave?"

"Her home," Kouga repeats slowly, everything falling together.

"Inuyasha! _Kouga_?? What are you two _doing_ here?" a frantic voice yells from below. It is of course, Kagome, coming home later than everyone else, due to an afterschool class to help her catch up. In typical fashion, she has forgotten her umbrella, and her white blouse is sticking to her, clearly showing the difference between flesh and bra, and hinting at things beneath.

Inuyasha cringes. She must be mad. He allowed a youkai with jewel shards to come into her world, who knows how dangerous that could be! "Kagome, I—"

"Oh, Inuyasha!" she cries. "I'm so sorry! I was getting so many lectures about my grades, and missed days, and not being able to go to college, I got really scared! I should have thought of you more! And now you and, um, _Kouga_, (I'm so happy you two are getting along now!) have gotten all wet and lost looking for me, and it's my fault!" She bows, finishing off her apology.

Inuyasha and Kouga sit on the wall, dumbstruck.

"Um, Inuyasha?" Kagome says nervously. "Can you even hear me with all that on your head?" Inuyasha nods, and the haori-turban falls off again.

Kagome suppresses a laugh. "Come on you two, you're going to get pneumonia or something out here, and give my grandpa ideas."

Inuyasha hops down and follows Kagome, but Kouga lingers a moment, considering, before going after them. He follows a few paces behind, at a much slower pace than he is wont to travel, watching his rival and his prize in easy camaraderie. Kagome adjusts Inuyasha's haori so that it simply drapes over his head like a hood, which looks natural given the rain, and the two get stared at somewhat less. Kouga, still stared at, still looking like a barbarian, follows, part of their group yet not, feeling confused, dejected, and jealous. When they reach Kagome's house, he stops a few feet from the door, like a dog trained not to go in the house, as Kagome and Inuyasha enter.

"Kouga-kun, aren't you coming?" Kagome says cheerfully, less a question than a 'Hurry up, silly!'

"Into your home?" Kouga says warily.

"It doesn't bite, you know," Kagome says, amused.

"Don't mock me, woman," Kouga says playfully, a vague assertion when events had knocked him to the bottom of the totem pole. Peering past her, he can see Inuyasha being fussed over, a little boy shaking out his haori and holding it up to himself, and older woman tweaking his ears. "Kagome. Would you ever come back with me?"

The way her face falls is more permanent than anything she could have said. "Kouga-kun," she begins softly. _I don't want to hurt you, I don't want to break your heart,_ that's what she wants to say, and he knows it, she's kind, but she doesn't love him. "I have to find the jewel, you know that." A lame excuse, not really one at all, but she is praying that he can read between the lines, and understand. A month ago he would have seized upon her weakness, a moment's kindness, and taken it as his encouragement, used it to get his way at any cost, and even now, he is tempted. She stands in the doorway, vulnerable, and he can still remember her screams as she clung to him, flying up the sides of cliffs. He knows he could take her even now, he's still unstoppably fast, but he has mercy on her. For the first time he understands what it is to have "home" torn away from him personally, so he watches her, warmth and light pouring out from behind her, shedding light on new kindnesses within himself.

"Come on in, Kouga-kun, meet my family," Kagome invites, nudging the door open a bit wider.

Kouga half smiles. "For a little while."

-

"Ah, the pitter-patter of little feet," Mrs. Higurashi says sarcastically as Kouga, Inuyasha and Souta all bolt through the house noisily.

"What did I tell you about giving youkai sugar!" Kagome's grandfather mutters.

"Oh, was that in an ancient scroll?" Kagome asks.

"No, it was in common sense!" he says grumpily, tapping the side of his head. "How can I meditate with all this racket?"

"Grandpa, Grandpa!" Souta yells excitedly. "You have to see what Kouga-niichan can do, it's _so_ cool!"

A light sparks in the old man's eyes. "Be right there!" he says, running off with them.

Mrs. Higurashi snorts. "Children."

Kagome covers her mouth and giggles.

"You should offer your two friends a bath, since they were in the rain for so long," Kagome's mother suggests.

"But mom, I was out in the rain too!" Kagome whines.

"I think they need the bath more than you do, dear," Mrs. Higurashi says cryptically.

Kagome sniffs the air. "I see... you know, it's hard to stay clean in the feudal era."

"I'm sure, dear," her mother says, patting her on the head. "Just see to it before dinner, okay?"

"Okay boys!" Kagome announces, walking in on the four of them. "Inuyasha and Kouga, I have a special surprise for you!"

The two boys turn, Inuyasha looking very suspicious.

"What is it, what is it?" Souta says excitedly.

"A _bath_!" Kagome declares.

Inuyasha's eyes widen in dread, Kouga looks confused, and Souta jumps for joy.

"I wanna go too, me too, me too!" Souta says, clearly hyper from too much excitement and sugar.

"You... you wouldn't!" Inuyasha says, backing away.

"What's the big deal, you big baby," Kouga says, enjoying his rival's hitherto unknown weakness, "did you make friends with all your fleas, and now you don't want to get rid of them?"

"Those soaps all burn my nose, Kagome!" Inuyasha pleads.

"Well use less of them, and... tell Myouga to get off if you're worried about him," Kagome suggests.

"I was kidding! You really named your fleas?" Kouga says, shocked.

"Please pleeaaase let me go in the bath with them?" Souta begs.

"Just the one, and he's better than all your fleas put together," Inuyasha snaps back.

"Now, now, Souta," Kagome chides, "you should just let our guests bathe, it isn't big enough for you too."

"Wait a damn minute, you want me to bathe with muttface here? Alone? Together?" Kouga sputters, looking almost frightened.

"Ha! Like you wouldn't enjoy that," Inuyasha says. Kouga sends him a quick furious 'traitor' glare.

"Come on then, it's about time you two resolved your differences," Kagome says, shoving them both along.

"What about modesty?" Inuyasha objects.

"You bathe with Miroku all the time," Kagome says thoughtfully; Kouga raises an eyebrow. "You even tried to bathe with me that time, so just get over yourself, and get in the tub!"

"Are you going to undress me?" Kouga intones suggestively.

Kagome looks him over. "I think I'll let Inuyasha do that."

"WHAT? Why me?" Inuyasha yells.

"Because you're both guys, so stop making a fuss!" They are in the bathroom, and Kagome leaves, closing the door behind her.

"Well, nothing else for it," Inuyasha says, shrugging off his clothes.

"I don't see any water," Kouga points out.

Inuyasha turns the tap, and adjusts the temperature. Kouga stares a moment, and starts untying his armor.

Soon they are both in the tub, with Kouga choking on bubbles. "I thought you said these things burned your nose," Kouga says, batting the fluffy foam away.

"I lied," Inuyasha says innocently, emptying a bottle into the tub. "I just didn't want to be alone with you."

"Because we might kiss again?" Kouga asks, suddenly serious.

"No, because you're really annoying," Inuyasha says, inspecting more bottles.

"So that means you didn't mind the kissing," Kouga points out.

"See what I mean?" Inuyasha says to the wall. "He's really annoying!"

"Why are you talking to the wall, mutt?"

"It seemed the most intelligent thing in the room."

"Including your fleas?" Kouga says, snickering.

"Why, you..." Inuyasha growls, looking ready to attack.

"Oh, yeah," Kouga says, "brilliant plan, come pounce on my hot, wet, tight little body. That will solve everything."

Inuyasha's eyes bug out. "Cheater!" He splashes Kouga.

"Ah, you got soap in my eye! It burns! You've blinded me Inuyasha, a curse on you and all your descendants for ten generations!" Kouga wails.

"Huh, really?" Inuyasha says guiltily. He reaches for Kouga a little, trying to see how bad the damage is. "I didn't mean to—"

Kouga rinses out his eyes miserably. "You..." he sniffed, "you really do care."

"No I don't," Inuyasha says unconvincingly.

Kouga does something unexpected then—he embraces Inuyasha. In his pack, he had been the subject of constant grooming, nuzzling and snuggling, from both sexes. Suddenly, naked, with soap in his eyes, it's too much to be alone. Inuyasha stiffens, his heart racing, and awkwardly pats Kouga on the shoulder, in what he perhaps hopes passes for comfort. They stay like that, until Kagome knocks and informs them that dinner's almost ready, and they hurry to wash all the bubbles off.

-

Inuyasha and Kouga are wearing spare clothes left over from Kagome's father, and Kagome's grandfather's younger days. They attack their dinner with relish.

"So," Mrs. Higurashi says, "what do you boys do in the feudal era?"

"Well," Kouga replies, slurping his noodles, "we rampage, sack villages, start wars with neighboring tribes... you know, the usual."

"Barbarian," Inuyasha scoffs.

"Bootlicking fleabag," Kouga says with his mouth full.

Mrs. Higurashi blinks. Kagome turns crimson. The rest of the dinner passes in silence.

After dinner, Inuyasha manages a moment alone with Kagome. There is something on his mind, but he isn't sure how to broach the subject.

"Kagome... uh, are there any men here in your time, who, um, don't like women?" Inuyasha begins awkwardly.

Kagome thinks. "Sure are! We call them misogynists, and a nasty lot they are! Going around saying that women should stay in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant, stupid chauvinists."

"Kagome, that's not exactly what I meant."

"Oh?"

"Well, say a guy had nothing against women. But he liked men better."

Kagome frowns. "Like he marries her as a trophy wife, then goes out with his friends all the time?"

"Only if he's kissing his friends," Inuyasha says, wincing slightly.

Kagome makes a very tiny "Oh," sound as it dawns on her. "Yes, we have those types here... but for a man like that, it's his duty to his parents to get married anyway and have kids, and only do that perverted stuff on weekends. Why did you ask about something like that?"

"Oh, I just..." Inuyasha says, fumbling for a reason, "saw some men kissing in Kaede's village, and wondered if that sort of thing went on here, too." In his mind, Kagome's words are echoing. Even five hundred years in the future, there will be no approval for that kind of love. It's hopeless.

"In Kaede's village?" Kagome echoes. "It was Atsumori and Unkei, wasn't it? Oh, I just know it, those two have been holding hands more than is normal."

"Huh? Oh, sure, it was them," Inuyasha says, not really caring about Atsumori and Unkei's reputations.

Kagome shakes her head a little. "Anyway, you should tell Kouga-kun that we're all going back tomorrow, okay? Then we can go hunt for the jewel some more, maybe he can even join us?"

"Don't even joke about that."

"Inuyasha, you should learn to get along with Kouga-kun, he's really strong and can help us."

"How, by annoying Naraku to death? I don't see what you're going on about, I'm the only strength you need. But I'll tell him, Kagome."

Kagome sighs as he walks away. "It's like those two are afraid to like each other," she says quietly under her breath.

It doesn't take long for Inuyasha to discover that Kouga is not in the house. Inuyasha follows his scent, it is easier this time, because Kouga wasn't going very fast. Outside, the damp air smells of ozone and city and Kouga, Inuyasha follows it to the well house. It is a cooler year here than in his time, and his breath shows in little puffs in the dark. He can hear crickets, their song has changed little over time, but in the distance there is also the slow whine of automobiles echoing and distorting, and that is completely alien to him.

Kouga is sitting on the lip of the well, reminiscent of Inuyasha's earlier vigil. "Waiting for someone?" Inuyasha says playfully.

Kouga looks up at him, snapping out of his reverie a bit. "You really can't go home again, can you?"

"Sure you can," Inuyasha says lightly, "just a hop down that well will bring you right back."

"That's not what I meant," Kouga says.

"You're not going back to your pack, then?" Inuyasha says almost sympathetically, sitting next to him.

"They don't seem to want me, and besides, who would be there to annoy you if I wasn't around?" Kouga says, suddenly catching Inuyasha's gaze. He moves towards Inuyasha, slowly, tentatively, his eyes asking permission, shadows of fear behind them.

And this time, Inuyasha doesn't object.

They take their time kissing, Inuyasha mindful to be gentle, after Kouga's lecture before, Kouga notices, and smiles a little against Inuyasha's lips.

Something is bothering Kouga though, a small voice at the back of his mind that grows and gnaws at him, so he pulls back a little and whispers, "I thought you liked girls, Inuyasha."

"Mmph," Inuyasha says, not used to so much kissing, and somewhat overwhelmed by it. "I do. Or, at least... I liked Kikyou."

"And me?" Kouga asks.

"You..." Inuyasha says, appraising him. "No. I don't like you at all." He leans in greedily for another kiss, and Kouga obliges, confused. Kouga's hands suspend in midair while they kiss, uncertainly, wanting to touch Inuyasha, but afraid to trespass on his private spaces like that. Already they are kissing and calling each other's names, so he is afraid that if he crosses too many lines, he may lose everything at once. And he's already lost everything once, he doesn't intend to do it again.

"But," Inuyasha breathes huskily against his ear, "you can annoy me a little longer, if you must."

Kouga smiles and kisses Inuyasha's little nose, then laps at it, Inuyasha's lips parting a bit in surprise. "Well, someone has to," he says. "But are you sure Kagome isn't... annoying you?"

"Only in the literal sense of the word," Inuyasha says, amused. "My relationship with Kagome is... complicated."

"She's in love with you, though," Kouga says, somewhat regretfully.

Inuyasha blushes. "No she isn't. I'm like her... big brother, or something."

"If my little sister looked at me like that, I would be worried," Kouga says candidly.

"Don't jump to conclusions, not everything's about sex, you know," Inuyasha says, looking at Kouga fiercely.

"And this?" Kouga asks. "That we've been doing just now? Is that about—"

"Of course not," Inuyasha says. "I'm just teaching you to kiss, because you need it."

"Oh do I?" Kouga says, feigning offence.

"Yeah," Inuyasha says with a little snarl in his voice, "you need it bad. And I'm gonna give it to you." With that, he launches himself on Kouga, gentleness forgotten, half-kissing, half-attacking, his fingers digging into Kouga's arms just below the shoulder, later sliding down, finding his way into the musty old silks Kagome's family lent him, his cool hands dragging against Kouga's hot chest, then crushed between their torsos as they search for greater contact. For the first time Inuyasha can feel Kouga's hardness pressing against him through their clothes, giving him ideas he doesn't have the courage to go through with yet. The sensations build, sensitive lips against tongue against teeth, hot breaths echoing in the small well-house, until Inuyasha can take no more, and he pulls back, panting.

"I think you're the one that need the lessons," Kouga says smiling.

"I'm not admitting defeat," Inuyasha says, "it's just a strategic retreat. I'll be back. I'll win, too."

"You promise?" Kouga asks coyly.

"Heh," Inuyasha says noncommittally. He looks at Kouga a moment, because it feels good to do so. Not sure why, he pulls out the thong holding Kouga's hair back, and ruffles his hair to fall around his face. "Wear it down, it suits you," Inuyasha says softly. "You might even be less annoying."

-

The next morning, Kouga's hair is wild and unfettered. Inuyasha is smirking a little, though he thinks no one notices.

"So," Kouga says as they walk towards the well, "what's the plan for defeating Naraku?"

"Plan?" Kagome echoes, as if she's never heard the word before.

"Yes, plan, as in the plot that we devise in order to kill him!" Kouga looks at Kagome a moment. "You... you _do_ have a plan, right?"

"Don't need a plan," Inuyasha grunts, "I have a sword. Sword is better than a plan."

"I can't believe you people beat me so many times," Kouga says in horror. "I'm so ashamed!"

"Well," Inuyasha says, attempting comfort, "it is a _really_ nice sword."

"I have plans sometimes," Kagome says defensively. "I like being able to think things through, and have a plan."

"Plans are stupid," Inuyasha insists. "They slow me down. You never get to the good stuff if you're too busy planning. I say just grab your sword, and jump into the action!"

Kouga smiles a little. "I guess there's merit in that, too."

When they get to the well, Kagome jumps first, and drifts down in a ray of light. Kouga and Inuyasha stand there, hesitating.

"Do you think it will be so gentle with us?" Inuyasha says dubiously.

"You're right," Kouga confirms. "We should go in one at a time."

"Oh, to hell with it," Inuyasha says, grabbing Kouga and plunging into the well.

Five hundred years earlier, a youkai and a hanyou lie very tangled in a pool of mud.

Kagome is partway up the well shaft, miserable. "There's mud everywhere, why didn't you warn me? Oh, Mom's gonna be mad if I ruin another uniform...!"

"Heh," a very muddy Inuyasha says, grinning, "I'm on top this time." He savors the situation a moment more, before clambering off Kouga and giving him a hand up.

Before they even get to the top, they can hear Shippou's piercing call of "Kaaaagoooomeeee!" Poor Kagome nearly falls back into the well as he flings himself at her.

Once out of the well, somehow Kouga's hand finds its way into Inuyasha's. Inuyasha gives it a very small squeeze.

Sango and Miroku walk towards them, Sango breaking into a run. "Oh, Kagome, welcome back, I was getting worried about you!" she says, looking even more worried than she sounds. She barely acknowledges Inuyasha and Kouga.

Miroku does notice. His eyes narrow, and he says nothing.

-

"_Is this all right?"_

"_Yes, I want it. Quickly, I want you inside me, before my pack comes back."_

_The memory blurs a little then. Rushed kisses, clawing at clothes, yes, those come off like that, no, don't take that off, it never comes off. The sex, of course, the reason they are there, frantic and panicked, with claws digging in, and guilty glances over their shoulders, spurred by fear, pulled by lust, trapped, hopeless, desirous. Secret, yes, always in secret, these are the things you can't bring home._

"_You're beautiful."_

"_No one's ever told me that before."_

"_You are beautiful... but I can't stay with you." Clenched fist around a curse, choices already made for you. Beauty is something to be grasped in glittering fragments, given, stolen, collected and lost, a treasure you are not destined to hold._

_It is the way of the world, is it not?_

Miroku closes his eyes on the memory, and clenches them hard enough that when he opens them, there are spots in his vision. Even so, he can see Inuyasha and Kouga splashing each other more than is necessary. It has been two days since they returned with Kagome, and they have stopped at a hot spring. Miroku considers peeping on the girls, just for a change of scene, but he hurts enough already without the beatings he expects to receive. Wearily, he adjusts the rosary around his wet glove. It's always the last thing to dry, he minds most in cold weather.

"You fleabitten _ass_," Kouga snarls at Inuyasha, "you threw a rock that time!"

Inuyasha laughs uproariously, until Kouga shoves his head underwater. Bubbles come up for about ten seconds, then Kouga yelps and pulls away.

"You bit me! You fucker, you actually bit me!"

"Damn right I did! What are you gonna do, cry on my shoulder again?" Inuyasha teases.

"Maybe I'll kill your precious fleas, jerkoff!"

"Enough of your sickening lover's spat!" Miroku interjects, unable to take another second. "You sound like a little old couple!" He is met with twin looks of horror.

"He started it!" they both shout at once, pointing at the other. Inuyasha bites Kouga's outstretched finger playfully, and Kouga kicks him under the water. They seem about to break into another scuffle, but Miroku grabs his shakujou and handily knocks them both over the head.

"That was mean!" Inuyasha says, rubbing his head.

"Is he always like this? Can we vote him out of the group?" Kouga whines.

"You two," Miroku says, his eyebrow twitching, "have been fighting like cats and dogs since Kouga started traveling with us. At this rate, Naraku won't even have to finish you off, I'll do it myself."

Kouga snorts. "You're just jealous because of 'that time,' aren't you?"

"What?" Inuyasha asks, bewildered.

"I understand that we both had lives to go back to, but Kouga, my best friend? That's low. Lower than I expected even of you," Miroku says angrily.

"As I recall, you left me, Houshi. You were the one with another life, and an image to uphold, and all that bull. And it was because of you that I lost my place in the pack. I gave up everything for you, but you made it clear you didn't want to see me again," Kouga says, dripping bitterness.

"Miroku?" Inuyasha says in disbelief. "_Miroku_? Miroku who would drop his last mon for the chance of looking up a girl's kimono while picking it up? Miroku, paragon of virile male heterosexuality? Is this the same Miroku?"

Miroku smirks a little at Inuyasha. "It's a good feeling, you know? Being accepted, respected, all that. I grope a girl's rear, and everyone says what a _healthy_ guy I am."

"So that's why you never seem to get lucky, why there's always an excuse," Inuyasha says, astonished at his friend's deviousness.

"See!" Kouga says, "a man who is ashamed of his true self has no right being possessive!"

"All this time, you were just hamming it up, controlling what people thought of you," Inuyasha says, staring.

"Aren't I always?" Miroku says. "Life is but a game, and I've always intended to win."

"Fashion tip, mutt, mouth looks better closed," Kouga gloats.

"Great, now I'm getting fashion tips from Mr. Wears-fur-with-leather?" Inuyasha says, bristling.

"Actually, I think it's a good look for you," Miroku says. "The fur miniskirt is hot."

"At last, someone with taste!" Kouga says appreciatively.

"Fine," Inuyasha says, folding his arms, "why don't you two just go _marry_ each other!"

"Oh grow up," Miroku and Kouga say in unison.

Inuyasha's eyes widen. "You're proving my point!"

"I'm not going to steal your boyfriend, Inuyasha," Miroku says, only slightly regretfully. "I have things I need to do that are more pressing... and I really should learn to like girls, if only for my social standing and survival of the family line."

"Yeah, I should too... to get my pack back and all that. Girls are kind of nice, I guess," Kouga says, wrinkling up his nose, "if you like soft and small and shrill, I guess."

Both stare at Inuyasha expectantly.

Inuyasha starts. "Look, I _already_ like women, you hear? And I don't care what anyone else thinks of me anyway, I do what I want."

"How come we never did anything in all this time, then?" Miroku asks.

Inuyasha shrugs. "You never asked."

"And me?" Kouga asks.

"You," Inuyasha says, "are a complete and total jerk. But..." he adds grudgingly, "you do look a bit better without that awful outfit."

"Well, I suppose all this changes everything," Miroku says airily, settling down against a rock.

"Hey, Miroku?" Inuyasha asks.

"Yes?"

"If we're good, can I keep him?" Inuyasha pleads, pointing at Kouga, who makes a big show of looking tough and not caring.

Miroku cocks an eyebrow. "Maybe if you're on your... best behavior."

Inuyasha grins. "Hey Kouga, it looks like even Grumpy here's accepted you."

"So I can stay? Long-term?" Kouga asks, his wide eyes full of hope. "What about you, does this mean you like me too?"

Inuyasha nibbles Kouga's lip a moment. "No, you're still a rat bastard." He leans in for a deeper kiss. "But welcome home."

Kouga splashes him as best as he can, and says a muffled "Jerk," against Inuyasha's cheek.

Miroku rolls his eyes. "Puppy love."


End file.
